THIS BLOG HAS BEEN RETIRED

THIS BLOG HAS BEEN RETIRED. I'm still going to be keeping it up here, though-- there's some pretty cool old stuff on it. That said, if you want to keep up to date with me, please go to www.georgeoconnorbooks.com.

Monday, August 30, 2010

After a week of painful drawing, I've taken a page from the book of Tim Hamilton and started drawing a "warm-up" picture every day before I start my actual work. Today I drew this picture of DC Comics icon Wonder Woman, a design I've been tinkering with for a few days now. I was so happy with the way it turned out I thought I'd share. I'm also kind of miffed that I didn't leave room for her left foot on the page-- as it was just a warm up, I had no idea it would turn out so nice, and as a result was not very careful with its placement on the page. Oh well.

By the way, Wonder Woman is trademark and copyright her specific owners. Thank you.

Remember last week when I wrote about the cover I'm doing for an upcoming book from Oxford University Press called Classic and Comics. The idea was that I drew several pastiches of famous superhero covers with the superheroes replaced by Olympian deities. I showed several such sketches, as well as their inspirations, but we finally went with Action Comics #1, the first appearance of Superman. Here's the final piece below, but click on over to my Olympiansrule blog for a step by step of its creation.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

That's right! Want to learn cartooning and comics from your truly? Starting September 7th, I will be teaching two classes at the Park Slope Armory YMCA (which has to be seen to be believed-- it's awesome sauce), cartooning ( for little kids) and Making a Graphic Novel (for tweens and teens). If you're older and want to take a class, let them know-- we'll add an adult cartooning class if there's demand. Check out here for more info, and how to sign up. Each session will run for eight weeks, and classes will be held on Tuesdays. I hope to see you there!

A few months back I was approached by the editors of a new book coming out from Oxford University Press called Classics and Comics about doing the cover. Classics and Comics will be an exploration of the influences, both subtle and less subtle, that classical literature and myth have had on comics, something that is pretty much the whole point of a series like Olympians.

We talked about a few cover design ideas, and one of the ideas I came up with was this piece, which references the myth of Athena being born from the head of Zeus (not to mention my self-portrait from the back inside cover of each volume of Olympians)

Ultimately, we went with another idea, of paying homage to some classic comic book cover designs, but replacing the modern superheroes with their Olympian forebears. Please click here to see a gallery of super-hero cover designs on my Olympiansrule blog.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

For your viewing pleasure, a finished (well, black and white, not colored) page from Olympians Book 4, Hades: The Wealthy One. The book opens with a tour of the Grecian afterlife,and here comes ferryman Charon to take you across the Styx. Hope you have a coin for him.

Monday, August 16, 2010

Isn't she lovely? A round of applause for the Dread Queen of the Underworld, everybody! This is the first piece of finished artwork I completed especially for Olympians Book 4, Hades: The Wealthy One. More to come soon.

It's the official blog of George O'Connor!

I am an author, illustrator and cartoonist living in Brooklyn. Questions, queries, comments please email me at geooco@gmail.com. I desperately want you to know that all original artwork is copyrighted to George O'Connor unless otherwise noted. Desperately.